Pinpoint
by Fadingsilverstar16
Summary: General Leia dies bringing the Rebel army to victory. With no one to vouch for him, Kylo Ren sits in prison and waits for execution. But a mother always looks out for her son, even if that means calling upon a war criminal to save him from captivity.
1. Chapter 1

On day three of what some would later call The Battle of Yontu, Kylo Ren felt General Organa's death at the hands of lone stormtrooper RT-6192. The blaster shot to her neck became a flash of light behind his closed eyelids. He breathed in, continuing his meditation, as she crumpled. The impact made a thud in the pit of his stomach.

Ren sat up a bit straighter, tipping his head a little towards the ceiling of the cave. Breathe in, he thought, and out.

She was alive for three seconds after that. Her smoking throat and rattling lungs became a dull ache at the base of his skull. A younger Ren might have felt lightning in his bloodstream. An even younger Ren might have blacked out from pain. Ben Solo would have died if he hadn't been dead already, but as it was, the Force energy in Leia Organa gave one final shriek that Kylo Ren couldn't hear and dispersed without disturbing him further.

Ren opened his eyes. He breathed out.

* * *

The Battle of Yontu was a decisive victory for the Resistance. The planet itself was a only small moon, and elsewhere the First Order captured several key Resistance territories on more populated planets, but General Organa's death was the stricken nerve that made the Resistance into a sort of revenge-drunken hivemind - a power whose every clever little scheme happened to work that day. Some surrounded Organa's corpse, shielding her with their bodies. Others lashed out, and everywhere Stormtroopers piled up.

For his part, Kylo Ren meditated through the whole event. He had only enough Force energy spared to place minimal physical protection around himself. The rest he gave away, dutifully trying to channel it in Leader Snoke's direction. It was a last hoorah for the Knights of Ren, of sorts - a technique that only ancient Sith lords could perform. The steps were basic enough. Kylo sat, meditated, and for most of a week Leader Snoke sapped Kylo of all that he was until one or both of them died. The rest of the Knights did the same. Later, Kylo would find out that only three of them survived. When the victorious Resistance fighters found the casualties in their own remote hiding places, they encountered corpses so hollow and used that they'd crumbled half to dust.

Snoke died a long time before they captured Kylo. Where his mother's departure was a puff of warm air in his ear, his master's was a hurricane that bowled him over and had him screaming into the fists he'd used to tear out his own hair. In the end, dirty, gloved hands grabbed him somewhere in the middle of his agony, dragging him out of the damp cave that was his hiding place. He struggled and spat and screamed at them as his feet dragged the rocky ground until one of the rebels finally got the message and knocked him wonderfully, blissfully unconscious.

When he woke, he was in Force-dampening chains, there was bloody skin hanging off of his ankles, and someone who was not Leia Organa was staring at him through a transparent shield. Kylo squinted at the other man through the greasy curtain of his own hair.

"I am General Matthias," the man said. "Do I need to inform you as to why I'm here?"

Kylo's tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. When he finally worked his jaw open, his lips split open and bled.

"General Organa is dead," said Kylo. He let General Matthias search his expression for remorse. Finding nothing, the man closed his eyes and seemed to catch himself before he could start shaking his gray head.

"Yes. But contrary to what you may think, I am not her direct successor. That would be General Dorian, and she…." Again, the general caught himself. He straightened where he stood, and suddenly looked several times older. Kylo could only imagine what he might have said next. Probably some poor attempt to make him feel something, from _General Dorian is too torn up inside over Leia to see you._ to _General Dorian is overseeing funeral preparations_. But surely, General Matthias would know better than that.

"Hells, I'll just cut out the bantha shit and get to it." Ah, so he did know better. "You stuck with the First Order until the end, and now the First Order is gone. There are still holdouts on Lindus and Thresh, and we know you all wanted them badly, but our TIE fighters are converging on them as we speak."

"And?" Kylo hissed. The Force power within him pulsed at his wrists. It was a small, pathetic amount, the stuff of making pockmarks in snow rather than black holes in space, but it was all that Snoke had left with him, it seemed. Any effort on his part only made it shift to another place in his body, still under his skin, unable to escape.

"We have elections to hold and distribution of authority to establish," Matthias said, as if any authority the Resistance put in place could be something other than doomed, "but the people have been very clear about wanting you tried very soon."

"You said you would cut the bantha shit." The Force moved to his shoulders, concentrating there, making him straighten. "How does the Resistance execute its criminals?"

Mathias's lip curled under his bushy mustache.

"It doesn't," he said through his teeth. "But the New Republic that the Starkiller weapon destroyed used to hang its worst criminals. I'd imagine the tradition will stand."

The urge to laugh bubbled in Kylo's chest. What a lack of imagination.

"Is that all?"

Matthias shook his head. He straightened.

"Not quite."

Kylo heard something click. A soft beep. Then he was seizing and vomiting and screaming in pain as the chains holding him down came to life.

* * *

Somehow, Kylo's situation eventually became very satisfying. Once, after the electricity was off and Matthias was about to leave, the general let slip that there were people watching this, watching Kylo Ren being tortured and languishing in his own stinking piss and shit. A few credits, Matthias informed him, could get one access to a live holofeed that came online whenever Matthias was inclined to visit. And of course, people with more power than the general could dream of knew about the whole thing and didn't care. Later, when he was alone, Kylo processed the whole thing by giggling at the wall, letting himself feel validated that the "mercy" and "kindness" the Resistance valued so much were little more than idealistic lies. It hurt to laugh - pain was radiating through him with each breath at this point - but he managed it well.

Time passed. How much time, he didn't know. There wasn't enough strength in his arms to let him scratch marks on the floor as a way of keeping count.

* * *

"-and as we celebrate your life and legacy, we lay you - Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, General of the Resistance - to rest with the ranks of all those chosen by the Force and made strong by the call of Light."

The scavenger girl's ceremonial robes were far too big for her. Kylo couldn't help but snort at the grainy video feed as she set his mother aflame.

* * *

Somewhere along the way, Kylo did have enough sense to think _no, of course not, this cannot be._ He had to be trapped with some radicalized Resistance sympathizers, if Matthias wasn't alone here in this building or hell, on this whole planet. And the man himself was no general, Kylo thought for only a moment, just the dullest-mannered psychopath in the world. Better yet, this was punishment - a true punishment at the hands of Leader Snoke. Yes, the powerful being had to be alive somewhere outside of Kylo's consciousness, already ruling the universe, and Kylo was languishing in a First Order prison as Snoke created a nightmare world for him in which the Resistance had won. Either way, he'd failed.

He was in too much pain to become truly bored with Matthias's presence. He gagged at his own body odor with every shallow breath. A knawing hunger set in. He hurt, he itched, he shivered all over. The next time Matthias visited, another video feed ready at his side, Kylo could only cast his eyes in the old man's direction and stare.

"Trials," Matthias said simply. The screen flashed on, showing Kylo a courtroom. Chandeliers hung from a cieling that glowed with shining gold designs, sending out a light that made the stained glass paintings on the windows blush out into the night sky beyond the building. It had none of the cold efficiency of the First Order, none of the purpose. And it was certainly much nicer than any Resistance vessel or base. But that was just it, wasn't it? All of the Republic's finery had produced a ragtag, underfunded army because the people on top knew they'd still be in power when it was all over. The First Order would have seen those Republic riches dispersed fairly among the populace. The First Order would have seen to so many things.

Uniformed in gray shirts and trousers, the line of prisoners marched to their seats, stepping carefully to not trip over the short chains that linked them together. Kylo had no strength or desire to focus on their faces. Besides, their heads were all bowed, whether from shame, or anger, or pain and torture similar to his. He recognized the outlines of hairstyles, their shapes and statures and skin tones. General Kali sat down, then General Faroon, but then Kylo's eyes were skipping over several others, as if gravitating toward-

Kylo's body went rigid. The Force within him leaped, crawling right underneath his skin. It beat against the edges of Kylo's being until finally, he felt a piece of it leave him. A thin thread of energy stretched from him, past his Force-dampening chains, across the galaxy. It leaped through stars and asteroids and the cold vacuum of space until it struck its target in the middle of the forehead.

On the video feed, General Hux looked up.


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhere on the edge between physicality and nothing at all, Leia Organa floated in the euphoria of death.

At one moment there was fire in her neck, a single spot of agony that tied her to one world as it pulled her toward the next - but then the sensation snapped off and she was free. But she did not feel her spirit fall down. Nor did she rise up, or burst apart, or feel herself race off into infinity. Instead, her being hung in place. Light of all colors burst before her, as if she were facing a meteor shower with her eyes closed. A helpless bliss came over her like a cool shroud, sending her the tiny thought of _I am dead this is death oh Han_. Then Han's fingers were on her arms. His lips were on her forehead. She was burying her face into his chest and then-

The Force took her away.

* * *

Later, Leia found herself looking down, bending her knees, and passing her fingers through a white flower and the grass beneath it. She was in a field somewhere, on some planet, and her father was patting her shoulder.

"I'd say how I wish I could have seen you do that as a flesh-and-blood child, but I'm not sure if you'd appreciate the sentiment," said Anakin. It was a perfect opening for Leia to snap at him in agreement. Instead, she only sighed.

"I'll take you up on that later." She put her fingers together, grasping at the flower's stem. It didn't move. Still, it was a more calming activity than touching her throat again and again, wondering why it felt so strange to look and feel and sound young again. She looked up at Anakin, and he smiled. Of course he would smile, Leia thought. This world was all smiles. All peace. All understanding. The planet itself was green and bright, hidden by a massive asteroid belt in some far off corner of the galaxy. Of course the Light would choose to make a home here.

But enough about her own situation.

"So I can't go to Han because there's something we still need to do," she stated.

"Yes. The Force is keeping you here," her father replied.

"The Resistance won."

"And your son didn't."

Leia squeezed her eyes shut. The pain of Ben's loss to the Dark Side was no longer confined to her chest, as it had been when she was flesh and blood. Now, her entire spirit ached when she thought about him.

"They'll just execute him, Father," she said. "They'll try him, he'll die, and…." Her breath hitched. For a fleeting second, Leia could _feel_ her two most precious treasures embracing her. Her husband and son, reunited in the next life, together. Safe.

"It is not his destiny, Leia. We both are here because Ben Solo has much left to do. He needs to return to the Light, and we will help him do so, dead or alive."

Anakin stepped forward to face her, bending to her level, placing both hands on her shoulders. He smiled sadly.

"And at the very moment we do that, we'll both be free."

Wasn't that something. Her reunited with Han. Anakin with Padme. Meeting Padme, the mother she'd never known. The next realm was calling to Leia so fiercly. Every moment she was stuck in this one felt like a lifetime.

"What do we need to do?" she asked.

Her father's smile disappeared, replaced with a grave look.

"I will show you where he is."

* * *

As it turned out, Force ghosts were capable of crying. They were capable of sobbing and screaming and cursing. Just one look at Ben was enough to bring Leia to her knees, to make her jam the heels of her hands into her eyes and wail.

Anakin let her be for a little bit. Then he pulled her into his arms and petted her hair.

" _Where is Rey_!?" Leia cried into her father's shoulder. "Luke? Finn? Poe? Anyone! This _can't_ be what I left behind!"

She'd been so selfish, so drunk with the bliss of death and the prospect of reuniting with Han that she was willing to let this be, to not even think about it.

"They'd know if they weren't using Force-dampening chains and shields on him. He's well guarded, Leia. It's a miracle that _we're_ able to see him," Anakin murmured. "Luke and Rey cannot."

Leia sucked in a shuddering breath. Her fingers curled into her father's robe.

"What can we do?"

"You won't like it, Leia," Anakin sighed, "but there is another child of the Light. Ben knew him, once. They were both victims of the First Order's cruelty. Under Snoke, they comitted unspeakable atrocities. Now, they're victims of New Republic."

Leia looked up at the cloud of energy before her - a portal that displayed Ben's broken body rotting in a cell.

"I don't care about what this ' _child_ ' has done. I care about what he _can_ do," she said. Tears still ran down her cheeks. "Show this person to me."

The portal obeyed, displaying a second image next to Ben's. She recognized the man at once, feeling a spark of ugly hate, but that didn't matter. With a cold and righteous fury, Leia stretched her hand towards the image of the lavish courtoom, towards the image of General Hux standing trial in ratty prison garb. She concentrated, searching for the Light within him, and clenched her fist hard when she found it. Her other hand was already aimed at Ben, fingers gently splayed as if reaching to caress his matted hair. Force power burst from her, spreading through the universe, threading the strings of fate together as she sent out a single, absolute command.

 _Brendol Hux, you belong to the Light. Ben Solo is your redemption. Break free from your captivity, abandon your former self. Bring my son back to where he belongs. It is time for you to atone for what you have done!_


	3. Chapter 3

"You're a savior and a star, Kylo Ren," said the general. He was clenching his fist. Below his rolled up coat sleeve, the veins on his arm popped up with the help of a tourniquet. He had a rule about the drugs he used to keep his captive alive. Kylo got half a dose of painkiller at a time. Matthias got the rest and maybe an extra full dose. The drug did well at keeping his eyes glassy and his shoulders relaxed.

"It was the First Order that taught me about proper torture, you know." Matthias talked as if he'd just handed Ren a drink at a bar. "They had unwritten protocols for medical treatment of torture victims. Whatever the standard dose was for a drug in the database, give half or less and keep the rest for yourself. Some nurse let that slip one day."

The needle slid into Matthias's arm with a practiced grace. He had older puncture marks everywhere.

"Anyway, the compliment was for a different reason." Matthias was trying to sound neutral, but his voice was a bit breathy. That drug worked fast. "All the credits go to relief efforts for people affected by First Order conquest. They would let all the military prisoners do this kind of work for them, but trials are also satisfying, in their own way."

Kylo moved his head, ear and cheek scraping against the floor. It was the only response he could give. Matthias turned, ready to re-start the electricity and turn on the broadcast.

"I hope Hux hangs first," he said, lowering himself into a nearby chair. Kylo convulsed, choking on bile and saliva. "Or last. Either order would make sense."

He crossed his arms.

"It's interesting, though. Lots of people caught that little religious experience he had last session. General consensus seems to be that he's finally having the psychotic break that was coming to him." He seemed to consider his own words for a moment before standing, unlocking Kylo's cell so he could step in. Being so close to the electrified chains didn't faze him. Bones cracking, Matthias squatted down and didn't blink when Kylo rolled over to vomit near his shoe.

"But I knew Leia, and I know what someone looks like when the Force is calling to them. And, unfortunately for you, I don't actually keep secrets from the top. This," he gestured all around him, "is something the top is fine with, so I have nothing to hide. I told them what I thought about what we saw with Hux, and what I saw in you."

He got up to shut off the shocks, then returned to Kylo's limp form. Calmly, he set his boot on Kylo's neck and pressed down.

"Did you use the Force to contact him? You don't need to say so." He pressed harder. "Just nod."

Kylo stared at the ceiling. Part of him wanted to laugh at this absurdity, but that was a constant feeling now. The rest of him hid behind that desire, uncaring. General Hux and his looks of awe and Matthias's intuitions meant nothing.

When Kylo didn't respond, Matthias shrugged and turned to leave.

"Never say I didn't give you a chance."

* * *

Maz Kanata studied Kylo with tired, defiant eyes. But the sentiment was not toward him alone, of course. Matthias was hovering over her. To the general's right, a dark-skinned, severe-looking woman was fiddling with the blaster at her waist.

"What do you think bringing me here will accomplish?" Maz looked up at her surroundings with even more distaste than she did Kylo. "You have both of them, and they are across the galaxy from one another."

"It's not what I think. I only relayed my thoughts to the Grand Council's liasons," said General Matthias, unfazed by Maz's glare. "They want a neutral party to assess the situation. It's true that we'll be doing away with both of them in due time, but you can never be too cautious if someone _magically_ decides to show their Force-sensitivity while a Force-user decides to have a random seizure."

"The First Order is gone and there is no more 'neutral'," Maz replied. She pointed a thin finger at Kylo. "The dampening chains on him are unlike anything I've ever seen. He may very well be reacting to those. I don't have an opinion on Hux." Kanata faced Matthias and the woman, staring them both down in spite of her short stature.

"In my view, the Grand Council is full of paranoid fools, but if you leave me alone with him so I can concentrate, I'll have an answer for you."

Matthias and the other woman exchanged looks, but decided not to argue and left without another word.

Maz sucked in a breath through her teeth once they were gone. Kylo remained curled up in his favorite corner.

Maz let herself in to the cell, approaching Kylo quickly, showing no fear. She avoided stepping in puddles of fresh and dry bodily fluids without even trying. If his throat worked, he might have sneered at her, just for the off chance that it would make him feel less weak.

"Ben Solo," she said lowly. In spite of everything, even that name he hated so much, her voice was not unpleasant. "Look around you."

She was a curious, stupid little creature, but Kylo indulged her. Aside from the technological marvel of his chains, the cell and the room beyond it were gray and unremarkable. If there were no physical pain grounding him to this world, he might have thought he was dead and trapped in limbo.

"Do you think that the Force intended for you to end up here?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kylo rasped, lying. He wrapped his arms even tighter around his knees, pressing his forehead against the closest wall.

"Do you feel whole, Ben? Is all of your being, your Force power, contained in this cell?"

Kylo's lips twisted. He hoped his smile was horrifying.

"Aren't you supposed to know? I'm starting to wonder why they brought you here."

"Oh, I know," she smiled, "but I'm not going to achieve your destiny for you. I can only give you advice on how to proceed."

She stepped closer to him, placing warm fingers on Kylo's temple. Hating it, he leaned into the touch.

"I'm not a Force-user. That's why I'm here. They know Rey and Luke are principled. Maybe they hate you, maybe they don't, but what you've been through would enrage them both." Maz paused, breathing in. Strangely, Kylo felt his mind calm a bit at the sound. Still, he wished she would leave.

"Get to the point."

"As I said, I have no allegiance to Light or Dark, but if there is one thing I know about the Force, it's that it always gets what it wants in due time. I saw it with Anakin. I saw it with Luke and Rey. Now, I see it with you."

"And what the fuck does Hux have to do with anything?"

"Ah, now that's the interesting part - one that I know nothing about. I can only see you, Ben Solo, and the fact that you are incomplete."

Kylo cringed. Maz put her hand on his knee.

"Something did leave you when you seized during the trial, but it is not lost. Meditate, Ben, and you will find it. Sleep may help, as well."

Finally, Kylo could laugh again. When was the last time he'd slept? Maz only tilted her head, a sad look wrinkling her face.

"I see," she said, turning to leave. "Then I am sorry for what I am about to do."

Maz let Matthias and his minion back into the room, putting on an unimpressed face.

"It is as I said. Pure coincidence. I looked as hard as I could and found nothing that connects him to Hux." She looked pointedly at the fidgeting woman, narrowing her eyes. "But if you really want more information, you'll have to get it directly from him."

Matthias inclined his head at Maz, allowing her to exit. He followed her, pausing to place his hand on the woman's shoulder and giving her a nod.

"Don't broadcast this, and don't kill him," he said. She rolled her eyes after he was gone.

"Kill you? So you can rest in peace with mommy and daddy?" she said, striding towards Kylo. "Now, why would I ever do _that_?"

* * *

"So anyway," the woman, Rakshata, said as she leaned against the cell wall next to Kylo, "that's how my sister became a Stormtrooper. I got lucky, I was too frail. After the recruiter decided I wasn't in, he dropped me on the floor and walked away with her. We were about eight months old."

She reached over to prod the knife she'd driven through Kylo's foot and into the floor, trying to wiggle it around. It wouldn't budge.

"After that, I killed my way through some mercenary gangs, hung out on the edge of the galaxy, all that stuff. It's more lucrative than you think, and I somehow got myself on the Council's radar after Yontu went down. They're sweeping up a lot of people like me. Whatever their reasons, I'm glad they did. They give me money, and I end up here."

She crossed her legs.

"Atana deserted after Yontu. Tried to hunt down our parents. All she found of our home planet was a gaggle of refugees who hated the First Order even more than I do because _you_ had some soldiers ransack their towns. Somehow, word got out that she, a baby stolen from her home, had once fought for _you_. Then they lynched her. Used some thick rags tied together and hung her from a tree. I went back to my hometown to visit my parents' graves a week later and heard the news. They dumped the body in a ditch. At least I got to bury her next to mom and dad."

Rakshata smiled sadly.

"My story is only one of many. Billions, in fact. I know you wouldn't care, though, even if you heard them all one by one." She grabbed Kylo's left wrist, produced another knife from nowhere, and pinned his hand to the wall. His voice was gone, so his screams were silent.

"So what say you, Kylo Ren? What _do_ you care about? Grandpa? 'Leader' Snoke?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "General Hux?"

No response. Ren lolled his head to the side, unconscious. Rakshata snorted. She dipped her hand into fresh blood and rubbed it between her fingers.

"Another time, then." She tipped her head back, closing her eyes. "I'll be here for a while."

* * *

He awoke to darkness choking him. He had no body to feel with, barely a mind to let him think, and yet he could feel himself consumed by nothingness, his being dispersed in a void. This was a place with no time, no purpose, no physicality to speak of. He was alive, trapped in death.

Thoughts flitted from him, uncontrolled and small.

 _Help_ , Kylo Ren begged the abyss. _Help._

The Dark Side did not respond. Several eternities passed by.

All the while, Kylo learned. Now and then, there was a realization that left him along with pleas for a savior. Snoke was here. Somewhere parallel to his own being, Snoke's essence was languishing in this hell. Dead Sith were here. Emporer Palpatine was here. They had no language, and their beings never touched. All of them no longer existed, and nonexistence was now all they knew. All were whispering. All were insane.

The Dark Side embraced them, keeping its followers separate and cold.

 _I am dead_ , thought Kylo. _I am afraid_.

Eternities came and went.

 _Mother. Father,_ thought Kylo. _I'm sorry._

Sometimes, he tried pushing against it, waging a fruitless war against that which he had sacrificed himself to in life, but every time he made himself bigger, the Dark made him ten times as small.

Kylo tried to cry. He could not.

Then, in the middle of some eternity or other, there was a pinpoint of white that Kylo could somehow see. It became a single line that pierced through the nothingness, hurtling towards him. Still and silent, the Dark Side let it through.

Suddenly, it was if he possessed an arm. Something was grasping at him, warm and fragile.

 _Help,_ thought General Hux. _Help._


End file.
